MC’s water austerity drive goes for a toss in Bathinda

Even as the Punjab government has directed to take strict actions against the misuse of water in all municipal corporations and councils of the state, those at the helm of civic bodies seem to be least bothered to follow the same, forget about the general public.

The driver of municipal corporation commissioner Anil Garg washing the latter’s official vehicle with a pipe outside his residence in Bathinda on Monday.(HT Photo)

Even as the Punjab government has directed to take strict actions against the misuse of water in all municipal corporations and councils of the state, those at the helm of civic bodies seem to be least bothered to follow the same, forget about the general public.

On Monday, the municipal commissioner commissioner’s driver was seen washing the former’s official car (PB03V 0666) directly with a pipe outside his government residence.

Hindustan Times also has video of the incident.

The government had ordered to stop washing of courtyards, vehicles with water supplied by the water supply department or the civic bodies.

There is a provision of penalty of Rs 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 against those caught for the first, second and third time respectively.

Municipal corporation joint commissioner Kamal Kant Goyal said the civic body has asked all MC junior engineers (JEs) and sanitary inspectors to keep tabs on residents for violating the law.

“The MC officials have not issued any challan till now, as nobody was found violating the law yet. We have to send the report every week about the drive and action taken against violators,” Goyal said.

In the video, the MC commissioner Anil Garg’s driver, who was seen washing the vehicle, claimed that the orders were for Chandigarh only. Washing of vehicles is allowed once in a week, he said.

Ward 2 councillor Malkit Singh Gill said, “If MC officials will do this on the road it will give a wrong message to the general public. Secondly, they are damaging government properties by releasing water openly on the road.”

“The MC officials behave like as if orders are not meant to be implemented on them. They work on papers to get photographed in the media. But the reality is that they have failed to regulate the state government’s orders such as ban on polythene, campaign on catching stray animals, solid waste management plant among others,” he said.

When contacted, MC commissioner Anil Garg said, “My driver was not using the tap water. It was ground water coming from a water pump installed at my residence. I have instructed my driver not to wash the car there anymore. My car was in front of my residence and not on the road.”